1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a cooling system structure particularly well suited for cooling an element such as an integrated circuit chip, such as a microprocessor installed in a computer, and a process for manufacturing the cooling system.
2. Description of the Background Art
Adequate cooling of microprocessors in computer devices is a well known problem. The most conventional background approach to cooling a microprocessor in a computer is to attach some type of radiator structure onto a microprocessor computer chip and to use a fan to blow air across the radiator to cool the chip. However, such a background approach suffers from several problems as recognized by the present inventors.
First, such a radiator-fan system cannot provide cooling at a specified temperature regime since the temperature of the cooling system depends on environmental conditions such as ambient temperature, humidity, etc. Further, such a cooling system is often just not particularly effective as the fan predominantly blows the warm air within the computer across the radiator, and thus often adequate cooling cannot be properly realized.
Secondly, such a radiator-fan system has a drawback in that the chip to be cooled is usually of a few cubic centimeters in size and has a mass of a few grams, whereas the cooling system has a significantly greater volume and mass. With the desire to increase the miniaturization of computers, such as in a laptop computer, employing such a large cooling system prevents an adequate miniaturization of the overall device.
Thirdly, such a radiator-fan system includes many mechanical parts for driving the fan. Failure in any of those mechanical parts can result in the fan not properly operating, which obviously results in improper cooling, and which can easily result in a catastrophic breakdown of the semiconductor chip. If a semiconductor chip reaches a temperature of approximately 100° C. the chip performance may deteriorate, and if the chip reaches a temperature of approximately 130° C. that chip may cease to operate, and having a fan breakdown can result in such temperatures being reached at the chip.
Fourthly, in such a radiator-fan system the fan also brings in new air that may have moisture and dust that may coat the cooling system and eventually deteriorate and wear down components of the cooling system. Such a fan also requires a 12 volt power source, and thus such a radiator-fan system consumes a fair amount of energy, which is particularly detrimental in a laptop computer environment as it reduces battery life.
Another background cooling system may utilize water or liquid cooling systems, particularly for larger microprocessor systems. The drawbacks with such liquid cooling systems are that they also require a large amount of space and again mechanical parts to control the liquid flow.